The Years Between Signing and Seeing novel Chapter 397

Suzie turned her head to look. It was Larissa, Myron's date, fiercely jabbing a manicured finger in Lexi's face.

"Come on, come on, let's go watch!" Stella grabbed Suzie's arm and dragged her toward the drama.

Never one to turn down a spectacle, Chester quickly relieved Suzie of her plate and followed closely behind.

As they pushed their way to the front of the gathering crowd, they saw Larissa clutching Lexi's wrist, pointing furiously at a shimmering bracelet.

"Everyone, look! I just lost this bracelet, and now it's magically on her wrist! Even if you didn't steal it, if you found it, you should have returned it!"

Lexi's eyes were wide with shock and indignation.

"What are you talking about?! This is my bracelet!"

Larissa let out a sharp, derisive laugh, sweeping her eyes over Lexi with blatant disgust.

"Yours?! Take a look at yourself! You're dripping in cheap knockoffs—not even decent replicas! You really expect us to believe you can afford something like this? Go on, then. Tell us who the designer is. How many of this limited edition were even made?!"

Lexi froze. She had absolutely no idea where the bracelet came from.

Chloe Lockwood had casually tossed it to her as a reward for doing some dirty work a while back.

She knew all of Chloe's things were obscenely expensive, so she had saved it for a special occasion like tonight.

But her silence was damning. To everyone watching, it looked like sheer guilt, and they were ready to assume the bracelet was stolen!

Fueled by Larissa's accusations, the murmurs in the crowd began to dissect Lexi's outfit:

"Now that she mentions it, that dress does look like a bad fake."

"Yeah, and she can't even name the designer of her own jewelry."

Suddenly, right beside Suzie, Stella cupped her hands over her mouth and shouted at the top of her lungs:

"Oh, so just because you hated being in prison, you're trying to drag someone else down with you?!"

The second the words left her mouth, Stella ducked her head, vigorously scrubbing at an imaginary stain on her dress.

She moved so fast that even Suzie, standing right next to her, almost questioned if the shout had actually come from her friend...

The crowd instantly swiveled their heads, trying to locate the source of the shout in the dimly lit corner.

But the origin didn't matter. The words themselves had already done the damage.

*She had been in prison!*

She was already suspected of being a thief, and having a criminal record completely solidified her guilt in the eyes of the onlookers.